A man stabbed a Hong Kong police officer. Now people are calling him a hero

The July 1 attack exposed that while protests and political opposition have been blunted, the anger that rocked Hong Kong in 2019 lingers in the anti-government camp — prompting fears of more violence.

A holiday subdued

The attack was particularly shocking for two reasons — both the choice of victim, and the choice of day.

The victim was one of dozens of police officers stationed near a cordoned-off street corner, which had been the starting point for previous mass pro-democracy marches, when his attacker pulled an object from his bag and plunged it into him.

The police officer was rushed to hospital in critical condition.

Before the national security law, Hong Kong authorities gave licenses for July 1 marches, a symbol of Hong Kong’s relatively high level of freedom compared to mainland China.

That changed after 2019. For months that year, pro-democracy protests paralyzed parts of Hong Kong, at times resulting in violent clashes between protesters and police. Many demonstrators saw the police response as heavy-handed, fueling public mistrust in officers who the democracy movement saw as agents of the government.

And as the movement veered into something more dangerous, Beijing’s tolerance for demonstrations in Hong Kong ran out.

With avenues for peaceful protest blocked, thousands have left the city, emigrating to Western democracies offering safe harbor, while hundreds have become political refugees. For those left in Hong Kong, there are few legal ways to be heard.

The July 1 attack showed that while dissent had been silenced, it hadn’t disappeared, said Joseph Cheng, a prominent Hong Kong political commentator who now lives in New Zealand. “The anger is obviously there,” he added.

One mourner, an education worker in her 20s, said she believed the attacker had “reached a point of despair” after the 2019 protests.

“I wanted to be a part in his commemoration to show that he was not alone,” she said. “There is no space for political expression. We have no outlet at all. We cannot take to the streets, we cannot sing songs with political implications because it is illegal.”

A ‘twisted pursuit of freedom’

The July 1 stabbing also represents another tough reality: how the once-revered Hong Kong Police Force has become a public enemy for some.

Hong Kong police declined to comment for this story, but one 10-year veteran of the force who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak with the press, said he was shocked and saddened by the attack.

The officer said it was a “twisted pursuit of freedom” inspired by “fake news,” including unsubstantiated allegations that police had killed several protesters.

“In my line of work, I need to monitor social media activity. The number of fake accounts that take up my main feed is overwhelming,” he said. “No matter what your values are and no matter how noble they can be, there can be no tolerance for violence and extremist tactics.”

The mourners, he said are “naive.” “Showing empathy to the attacker is wrong,” he said. “How can you teach the next generation that this behavior is acceptable?”

A former high-ranking police official, who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals, said officers “need to be cautious.”

“The man who killed himself is a killer. Why do you see him as a hero?” the police veteran of more than 30 years asked of those who laid flowers.

Fears for the future

In a polarized climate, some are skeptical of how real the threat of terrorism is. To many, the separation of powers between police and government is being becoming blurred — the new secretary of security, for instance, was the former police commissioner.

Others believe there could be legitimate cause for concern that copycat attacks could inflame tensions that spiral into a larger threat.

A user on LIHKG, a popular, Reddit-like forum used by protesters in 2019, claimed to be planning a similar attack against a police officer. The 30-plus year police veteran said he worried about copycat attacks, especially if members of the public continued to offer what he called “prayers for a killer.”

Diminishing legal ways to voice dissent meant it was possible that lone wolves could resort to more extreme actions, political expert Cheng said. “You are driving a very, very small group of radicals to extreme actions,” he said, appealing to Lam to restore and rebuild people’s trust in the police force.

“Any sensible government has to recognize this accumulation of anger, and has to make attempts to reduce the anger instead of just condemning the violent acts,” he said.

In the meantime, police officers, who do not make the law but have to enforce them, are on the frontline of public anger.

The psychology professor said the authorities in Hong Kong had become an “easy target on which people can project all their frustration and disappointment, political or otherwise.”

“Hong Kong people still haven’t had the chance to collectively process or resolve what they experienced (in 2019),” he said. “Covid-19 served as a substantial, and perhaps very effective, distraction, but ultimately true healing needs to take place.”